Article 17 of the Saudi Payments and Payment Services Law

This article opens the door to flexibility for innovation. It allows the Central Bank to relax some licensing requirements, under the following controls:

• Who has the power: the Central Bank, as the regulations specify.
• Who benefits: a person or group of persons.
• Scope of the exemption: some of the licensing requirements, not all.
• The purpose: encouraging innovation and development in providing payment services and operating payment systems in the Kingdom.
• Restrictions: having regard to transparency and fairness, and the exemption must not adversely affect the general aim of the Law.

The text does not exempt from the license itself, but from some of its requirements; it does not say which requirements may be exempted or how to request an exemption, which is left to the regulations. The power is permissive, so no automatic right of any company to an exemption can be drawn from the text.

The article follows Article 16 on disclosing information, and is followed by Article 18, which provides that the regulations are issued by decision of the Board, which under Article 1 is the Board of Directors of the Central Bank. Start-ups thinking of requesting an exemption would do well to consult a lawyer specializing in banking and finance and payment systems.